Compensation of wage costs (29/9)

The Government is extending the Temporary Emergency Measure for Work Retention  (NOW) from 1 October with 3 time periods of 3 months until 1 July 2021.

The most important changes
- To make a claim, companies must have a minimum loss of turnover of 20% and 30% in the 2nd period
- The support over 9 months has a gradual reduction in reimbursement percentages: from 80% to 70%, to 60%.
- Against the reduction of the allowance, there is the possibility of gradually decreasing the wage bill by 10%, 15% and 20% without this being at the expense of the subsidy.
- The discount that is applied in NOW 2.0 when there is a commercial dismissal is released.
- The maximum wage to be reimbursed per employee will be reduced in the third period to a maximum of 1 x the daily wage.
 
Extension and adjustment of the wage costs allowance scheme (NOW 2.0) (28/5)
An entrepreneur who expects at least a 20% loss of turnover can apply for a wage cost allowance from the UWV for June, July, August and September from 6 July 2020. This allows companies to continue to pay their staff. The extended NOW scheme uses the same compensation system, but the new scheme also contains changes.

The fixed (fixed) surcharge will be increased from 30 to 40 percent. In this way, NOW also contributes to costs other than wage costs. The reference month for the wage bill will be March 2020. In addition, the current NOW scheme also takes March as a starting point if the wage bill in the months of March-May is higher than in January-March. This is important for seasonal businesses. Furthermore, a company that makes use of the NOW may not distribute any profit to shareholders for this year, pay bonuses to the board and management, or buy back its own shares.

In NOW 2.0, the correction to the subsidy in the event of dismissal will continue to exist, but the subsidy will no longer be further reduced in the event of economic dismissal. Companies state with the new NOW application that they will consult with trade unions if they want to apply for economic dismissal for more than 20 employees. This is in line with the regulations regarding collective redundancies. The legal protection in case of dismissal also remains in force.

Employers applying for the NOW are obliged to encourage their employees to undertake further training and retraining. Employers will make a statement about this when applying for NOW 2.0. To support initiatives of the social partners, the government is earmarking 50 million euros for this through the crisis program NL learns through, which enables people to follow free online training and development advice from July to adapt to the new economic situation.

(01/04 NOW 1.0)
An employer is eligible for WTV when an incident of force majeure, such as the coronavirus pandemic, leads to reduced business activity. On the basis that at least 20% less work will be performed over the following 2 to 24 weeks, and that this is the direct result of an exceptional circumstance, the working hours of the employees may be shortened. The company can apply for a salary contribution for a period of three months (maximum 90% of the wage bill, depending on the loss of turnover). UWV will provide an advance of 80% of the requested contribution.
This Temporary Emergency Measure for Work Retention (NOW) will be activated as soon as possible and will replace the current reduced staff working times. It is not possible anymore to send in new applications to the SZW. Applications that have already been made will be transferred to the new regulation.

You must meet a number of conditions for the application.

• With the application, the employer commits in advance to the obligation not to apply for dismissal on grounds of economic reasons for his employees during the period for which the allowance is received.
• The applicant expects at least a 20% loss of turnover.
• The application applies for a period of 3 months, which can be extended once by another 3 months (further conditions may be imposed on the extension).
• The scheme targets turnover decreases from 1 March 2020.